Meet Jon

In 2020, Jon Acton became a stage 3 rectal cancer fighter — adding a new battle to his thirty‑year fight with Crohn’s disease. Cancer forced him to step away from a career as a school superintendent, but it didn’t end his purpose. It ignited it.

Jon reinvented himself, writing Broken Shells: A Perfektly Imperfekt Journey Through Cancer, Leadership, and Love and launching Broken Shells, a motivational life‑skills and climate‑and‑culture company dedicated to helping people rise through adversity. Broken Shells is built on one core truth: we are not broken — we are beautifully, perfectly imperfect. Our stories, our scars, our “whys and why‑nots” shape the impact we make in the world.

Before founding Broken Shells, Jon spent over thirty years as an educator — teacher, high school and college football coach, high school principal, and superintendent. His leadership earned state and national recognition, including the Indiana Educator of the Year Award from the American Legion and guiding "The" Cascade High School to a National Blue-Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor a public school can achieve.

Today, Jon's most important role is being a dad to Jackson and Andrew, and dog‑dad to Bryant, Harper Lee, and Henry.

Broken Shells helps people rise, rebuild, and lead with courage — no matter how Perfektly Imperfekt they may feel.  Broken Shells has evolved and added the 2 AM Courage philosophy.  When the darkness arrives, when the wicked howls, we don't flinch; we Rise UP and move forward, turning our pain into our purpose!

Reach out to Jon to book a keynote presentation or workshop.